Where exactly? The beautiful city of Saskatoon which is also the name of a berry known as a super fruit with anti-oxidant powers but unfortunately not Pomegranite as guessed by Mr Nelson. It's jsut a couple hours north west of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada (featured both on the Simpson's and Atomic Betty).

How did I start in the hobby?My start in the hobby all started innocently enough a little over a year ago. My daughter wanted a pet but we weren't able to get a cat because if she goes near one her eyes swell up like Mike Tyson just laid a whooping on her. Cute once but not ideal for the long run. Also our busy life didn't lend itself to a dog, that and my wife vetoed that idea.

So my artist/designer brother who had kept fish for a number of years before upgrading to a cat and icelandic sheep dog a few years ago suggested I get the stylish Black Fluval Edge for the living room.

The first fish we stocked the Edge with after it cycled for a few weeks and had the necessary levels were 3 zebra danios, 3 leopard danios and 2 otocinclus over a two week span, as the danios were recommended as good starter fish, by both my brother and the store, and we needed janitor fish.

We lost a zebra danio and leopard danio while on vacation and replaced them with 2 gold zebra danios. At that point my oldest had named all the fish after the characters on the TV series Chuck (i.e. Chuck, Sarah, Morgan, Ellie, Awesome, Casey, etc.)

If I could do it all again I'd likely have started with at least a 20 gallon long to give the danios the space they need and bought them after our vacation.

Realizing things could go awry while on vacation or while fish stores were closed I purchased a used burnt orange Fluval Edge cheap for spare parts. But when I went to pick it up the fellow had five dwarf rasboras he threw in for free and the filter was fully cycled and ready to go. It also didn't help matters that my oldest really wanted those exact fish.

MTS is it a disease?Within two months I had started down the road to full-fledged MTS with a tank in the living room and one in the kidâ€™s room. The small confines of the edge didn't help matters either as I soon realized I couldn't keep all the fish the kids & I (mostly I) wanted to keep. It also made me inherently research and start keeping small fish around the 1 inch mark as one or two fish swimming around didn't cut it.

Zebra, leopard and gold danios are the largest fish I ever knowingly purchased. We did have a single corydoras CW064 sneak along in a purchase of 8 corydoras pygmaeus.

Marimo moss balls and some java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri) were also purchased around the same time for my first beginner plants. The kids wanted some shrimp for their tank and I figured they should have something to graze on.

I also came upon some flame moss (Taxiphyllum incendia-stipes) a short while later and added it to my tanks at the time.

Six months after purchasing my first tank (FTP) then purchased my third tank a 10 gallon to use as a QT tank which then quickly became stocked and didn't quarantine any fish except the initial two batches purchased and put in it. There was an episode with fungus so it actually worked for its intended purpose and has the medication stains on the silicone to prove it.

Somewhere along the way I came across some Christmas Moss (Taxiphyllum alternans) and added it to my former QT tank.

Nine months after my FTP I purchased a fourth tank to try my hand at raising some red cherry shrimp. It was also to avert Sponge Bob Square Pants ornaments in my other tanks as my kids wanted them along with bright royal blue sand and fluorescent plastic plants.

I also picked up a few plants nine months post FTP which were split between my two 10 gallon tanks:

Narrow Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow')

Wavy Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus 'Undulata')

Star Grass (Heteranthera zosterifolia)

Lutea (Cryptocoryne walkeri)

Susswassertang (Lomariopsis lineata)

Crystalwort (Riccia fluitans)

Parva (Cryptocoryne parva)

Water Wysteria (Hygrophila difformis)

Thirteen months post FTP here's my current assortment of tanks and what they are stocked with:

What's to come?The two 10 gallon tanks were somewhat calculated as my homes basement is currently unfinished and my wife said I could build a small fish room with a tank open to the future family room. They would end up being QT and/or breeding tanks once everything is built.

I am currently contemplating a single 125 gallon or a couple smaller tanks no longer than 7 feet combined for the family room/fish room shared wall. So there may be a journal in my future.

Why the handle?Schmidtsie is my handle as itâ€™s my longest standing and still current nickname. Ostrich, Trench, etc. have all gone by the wayside.

What do I think I learned so far...So what did I all learn in the last year and a bit since my FTP:

Fish will die, especially when there's a long power outage and it still bothers me when they die. If it stops bothering me I'll stop this hobby.

Don't overfeed as it can lead to all sorts of bad things like cyano bacteria, bubble algae, unhealthy fish, etc.

Holy Schmidtsie...that's got to be the longest and best introduction post I've ever seen here...welcome to TFH Forums, dude! Sounds like you've conceded to your addiction very quickly...and it's definitely an addiction, don't ever doubt that.

I'll issue fair warning...you'll likely make acquaintance with one of our other Admins, CrazyGar, who happens to reside there in Saskatoon with you. Good dude, just talk slowly when you meet him, and don't stare ...you'll know what I'm talking about when you meet him.

From the sounds of it Schmidtsie has already hooked up with a few members of the SAS (I am the Technical Admin on the SAS - Gary MacDonald) as some of the plants and fish are familiar to the area. I'm doing a talk on Otocinclus at the August 26 meeting of the SAS, you should attend, we always have a good time. Thanks for the intro again.

And the compliments on the intro, I had initally thought it was a bit too long winded and would put people to sleep. *there's no sleeping smilie?* Keep in mind there's no guarantees on the riveting aspects of future posts but I'll do my best.

Yes, Gary I am in Toontown (haven't heard it refered to that in a while though) and we should try and catch up with one another at some point. I do own a Swingline Stapler as well as a staple gun should you need to borrow one or the other.

I don't know if 'hooking up' is the right terminology unless the SAS is one 'swinging' place.

I've purchased all my plants and most of my fish pretty much from a Canadian owned full line pet store franchise nearest my house or its sister store on the opposite side of the City (a whole 15 minutes away). Whereas my hardware has come from them as well as an international large specialty retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets.

I did some digging and here's the fish photo I ever took of a fish tank in my house. It's the Black Fluval Edge just after it was stocked with verifiable lifeforms (aka zebra danios).

Black Fluval Edge: First Photo

I also happened across a photo of the Burnt Orange Fluval Edge after it was set up in the kids room, hence the crayon, teddy bear ballet slipper, marble, hair band and tinfoil art in the background and below the tank.

Burnt Orange Fluval Edge: First Photo

Please forgive the quality, the water spots, etc. as they were taken with the first Crackberry I have ever owned and didn't realize they were as bad as they were until viewing them on the computer screen. The oldest daughter was also insistent on a few of the decorations in each of the tanks. The buddha statue, the easter island statue and the pink flowers.

I looked for a first photo of the Bikini Bottom Shrimp Resort but alas could not find one, so you'll have to stay tuned for my next post. Which may take a while as my youngest daughter dropped our point and shoot camera Wednesday night while making videos in the house. There was some chasing and tripping and I'm still not quite sure what happened but that's the best I can find out. The lens is now at a gruesomely awkward angle and won't close.

Hi my name is Schmidtsie and I'm a full-fledged sufferer of Multiple Tank Syndrome (MTS).-Schmidtsie-p.s. I took J.B.'s advice on using photobucket so hopefully all turn's out and the photos resize as in the preview mode they haven't. *fingers crossed* -

I have no female inhibiting force quelling my obvious deviant behavior. Actually, with my lifestyle (quite the busy guy) two tanks is more than plenty. Let's see Petland or Petsmart. Have you tried "World of Pets" in Lawson Heights? Curtis has some cool fish from time to time.